The 1st Easy Step in Your Estate Plan! (Payable-on-Death) - YouTube

in this video i am going to discuss one of  the easiest things you can do to advance  

your estate planning process it is filling out  and using pod forms first off a disclaimer i  

am not a lawyer of any kind and nor am i a  licensed financial planner i am not providing  

professional legal or financial advice i am  only providing general information based on  

my personal experiences research and opinions one  of the easiest things to do in your own estate  

planning is utilizing the pod form the pod form  can be used on almost any bank account like a  

checking and savings account as well as retirement  accounts and investment accounts pod stands for  

payable on death a pod is a written and signed  instruction on file with the financial institution  

to pay your designated beneficiary or  beneficiaries upon your death pods bypass  

the traditional probate process pods are a free  service offered by most financial institutions a  

couple years ago. i learned the hard way that not  all financial and banking institutions offer pods  

i had some money in an account with a local credit  union it only found out later that when i asked  

for a pod form they informed me that they don't  do pods i was actually quite surprised and asked  

around a couple more times and i was always given  the same answer they don't do the pods and for me  

i didn't like that so i withdrew all my money from  that local credit union because honestly there are  

too many banking and financial institutions that  do implement pods which is important to me for me  

a pod gives me the peace of mind that if anything  were to happen to me and i died my money would  

go to my designated beneficiary. i want to point  out that every financial and banking institution  

will have a different looking pod form some you  have to fill out in person some you can fill out  

online and there are some where they will email  you the form you fill it out at home you scan it  

and then email it back to the financial  institution most of the pod forms basically  

asks very similar information they ask for a  beneficiary's legal name social security number  

phone number birth date again it varies from  institution to institution to the specific  

information that they ask but they are quite  similar pods can be changed and updated at  

almost any time and i do recommend that  you revisit the issue from time to time  

because relationships change situations change  circumstances change pod forms I've seen allow  

for multiple beneficiaries as well as allowing for  different apportionments for example if you have a  

spouse and two children you may want to list three  beneficiaries the spouse and the two children  

and you would apportion 60 percent to the  spouse and 20 each to the two children and  

even if you don't have a spouse or children i want  to point out that you can still name beneficiaries  

and assign different percentages to them for  retirement accounts pod forms allow for contingent  

beneficiaries a contingent beneficiary is  only paid out if the primary beneficiary  

is no longer alive or they can't be located  i do want to say that pods are not 100  

foolproof this is why you will eventually want to  get connected and meet with an experienced estate  

planning lawyer an example of a pod not being fool  proof is if the estate has taxes owed or lots of  

liabilities and there's not enough money in the  overall state to cover them the pod bank account  

could be claimed by creditors or family members  or you may live in a community property state  

and you name beneficiaries aside from your spouse  however in a community property state your spouse  

may still have claims to half the money in  that account even though she is an unnamed  

pod beneficiary i bring up these examples to  remind you that the pod is not 100% foolproof  

but i do think there are wonderful instruments  that can be easily implemented and executed and  

of course if you have a complex situation i  definitely recommend that you get in contact  

with an experienced estate planning lawyer as a  side note there are no pods with bank accounts  

in a corporate entities name pods only work with  personal accounts generally speaking in order  

for beneficiaries to claim the money in a pod bank  account they will have to provide a certified copy  

of a death certificate thank you for watching this  video. if you've enjoyed this video please do me a  

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